A Certain Roughness in Their Syntax

Splintering like light in a prism, the poems of Jorge Aulicino combine images of the Dirty War in Argentina, of historic Latin American independence struggles, and of the battles against fascism in Europe. Translated into English for the first time by poet Judith Filc working closely with Aulicino, this influential book (published in Spanish in 2008) is filled with the experiences of a grandson of European immigrants now chronicling a world where multitudinous cities are cracking under their own weight in an ongoing present whose common denominator is war. Testifying for the migrating masses he has called “pariahs of empire,” who traverse a globe with no stable borders, Aulicino’s lyrical “I” shifts between roles, exile or spy or reporter taking detailed notes.